The Marbles – Area 4

Various white marbles

From the island of Paros came lychnites, a Greek marble used mainly for statuary that was quarried in tunnels by torchlight.

Island of Paros, Marathi. Section of the tunnel of the nymphs
(Korres M. 1995)

The unformed blocks, destined for sculpture, still have cavities for lead seals and various inscriptions that make it possible to date them precisely; some of the latter include the name of Hermolaos, the individual in charge of quarrying operations, also carved onto the quarry walls on Paros.

 
Island of Thasos, Aliki. View of the seaside quarries with the original outline of the headland, since quarried away (Bruno M. 2003)
Inscription of the consuls Macrinus and Celsus of AD 164 on the unshaped block of Parian marble

 

By contrast, the half-finished bases (F-I) and Ionic capital (Q) of a late period are in Thasian marble from the Aliki district, whilst the parallelepiped block comes from the area of Cape Vathy.

 

 

Ostia. Temple of the Fabri Navales during the excavations of 1939 and discovery of the deposit of columns in Thasian marble from Aliki